Motorcycles, Photography, Rants and Raves: Destination: CSS Neuse

Saturday August 16, 2008

With mostly cloudy and a 40% chance of precipitation in the forecast it didn't appear that it was to be such a good day for a road trip. But today is special since it is our 24th wedding anniversary.

By 10:00 the sun peeks out and we see stretches of that Carolina blue overhead. We mount up and head to Country Biscuit for a much anticipated but delayed breakfast. In the parking lot a couple from out of town asks: "Is the breakfast any good here?" Well the Country Biscuit is owned and operated by the Ipock's. I grew up with Jeff who manages the restaurant and I have enjoyed every meal I ever had from there for the past, soon to be, 30 years. So naturally my reply was "You won't be disappointed." Most of the time when someone from this area refers to out of town we mean from farther up North. Debbie and I wondered if they had ever had cheese biscuits or hush puppies or grits. "I'm really not that hungry so let me have just one grit." Just kidding! With our hunger satisfied we discuss where to head next.

We decide to head over to New Bern Harley Davidson and and pick out some anniversary gifts to ourselves. Good luck was in the cards and I picked up a great leather jacket for half off while Debbie acquired a light weight jacket and shirt. We figured these items will come in handy for our mountain trip in a few weeks.

We decide to head over to Hollywood Video and return the movies we rented and see what was on the newly released list.

It was about 12:00, we were done with our errands and with no destination in mind. Debbie thought of the CSS Neuse in Kinston. One location has a full sized model while the other location has the actual remnants of the CSS Neuse on display. The Confederate States Ship Neuse was one of the early iron clad gunboats utilized during the Civil War. Sounds good to me so off we go to Kinston via the bypass route on highway 70.

The site which contains the model was closed so we missed the interior tour. Our son says it's a pretty cool tour. Nonetheless the outside is most impressive and much larger than we envisioned.

We head over to the CSS Neuse historic site. Looks like there is quite a bit to see in this fairly large park.

A fellow two wheeler had a modified Triumph Tiger 750.

A reenactment was in progress on the grounds.

Here are the actual remains of the CSS Neuse.

If you wander down to the river you see this gigantic concrete shelter. The CSS Neuse was located here at one time but the flooding caused by hurricane Floyd caused the relocation to the current site.

I wasn't expecting this type of view on this outing but it's a definite plus.

We took a leisurely ride back to New Bern on Highway 55 through Fort Barnwell,Perfection and Jasper. A fairly short run of about 80 miles but we did run some errands and saved gas.

For a day that we thought would be a bad ride day this one turned out quite well.

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